Preliminary FBI Statistics Show Continued Declines in Violent Crime and Property Crime

Both violent crime and property crime fell in the first six months of 2019 when compared to the first six months of 2018, according to preliminary semiannual crime statistics provided earlier this week by the FBI. Violent crime is defined as offenses that involve force or threat of force and is composed of four offenses: robbery, rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, and aggravated assault. The number of robbery offenses decreased 7.4 percent, rape offenses dropped 7.3 percent, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses fell 3.9 percent, and aggravated assault offenses were down 0.3 percent. Property crime includes arson, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and larceny-theft. The number of arson offenses decreased 12.5 percent, burglaries were down 11.1 percent, motor vehicle thefts decreased 6.7 percent, and larceny- thefts declined 4.2 percent. The statistics were collected and presented as part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which publishes an annual crime report. The latest of these reports, Crime in the United States 2018, was published in the fall of 2019 and also showed that both violent crime and property crime fell in 2018 and 2017 (WaterISAC reported on the report in its October 1 Security and Resilience Update). Read the Press Release at FBI.